Desert Living

Many of you know me and the story of my husband’s illness and death. Being a single parent of two teenage boys was NOT in MY plan for my life. But the Lord is very good and that was a time when I felt God’s presence in my life in a mighty way. He gave me an abundance of faith and real sense of His support and power through many of you. I can truly say that although I suffered a great loss, I felt God was so near to me.
Since that experience, I have gone through some difficult times in my spiritual life. Blackaby calls it a Crisis of Faith. It seemed like God had moved on to someone else and left me to fin for myself. There have been times I just went through the motions of “doing church”. During this time Satan attacked me with thoughts that I deserved some time off from serving God and others. I needed some rest and then some fun. After all I had spent close to 25 years taking care of a sick husband and two sons. I deserved to spend time on me and my needs. But my fun left me empty and discouraged.
The Lord allowed me to have this time of discouragement just as he did Elijah in 1 Kings 19. I needed to rest, but I needed to rest in His arms. I needed to treat myself, but I needed to treat myself with His word and communion with Him. I needed feed on His truths. Just as Elijah ate and rested. I took a detour and ended up in the desert, but finally I went to the cave like Elijah. The Lord did not blow in with big wind or rattle my world with an earthquake. He just kept whispering to me. Come back to me Tinye - I am still here and I have more plans for you.
If you are going through a time of spiritual dryness, I encourage you to stay in God’s word, seek Him in prayer and remain loyal to the truths you know. It will be hard, but the discipline will pay off. He will do for you as to King David; He will restore the joy of His salvation.